The Cavs (7-23) weren't at the top of their game on Wednesday. They shot just 37.8 percent from the field. One of their best foul shooters, point guard Kyrie Irving, missed 4 of 6 free throws in the last 1 minute, 50 seconds of the game. He's shooting almost 80 percent from the foul line on the season.

"I started thinking too much," Irving said. "It was frustrating."

Luckily for the Cavs, Irving had an outstanding overall game with 26 points, six rebounds, eight assists and two steals. He made quite an impression on Wizards forward Martell Webster.

"He's not a No. 1 draft pick for nothing," Webster said. "He was able to really make it hard on us. (He) found a rhythm early, was able to hit the jump shot, get in and draw guys and get easy dumpoffs to bigs. And that's how you want your offense to be. That's how aggressive you want your point guard to be."

The 6-foot-3, 191-pound Irving has visions of stretching that winning streak even further.

"Hopefully, we can keep up the success," he said. "I have confidence in my teammates. I'm ready to win a third one.

"We have the Atlanta Hawks coming up and the Brooklyn Nets (on Saturday). Two games I look at that can be statement games. The effort that we gave tonight is good, but we have to take it up a notch as we know the road only gets tougher."

He stumbled a bit in the second half when he scored just six points on 1 of 10 shots.

"As long as my team wins, there's no struggling to me," Irving said. "I was just trying to make plays."

Center Tyler Zeller said he sees steady improvement in the Cavs.

"We are coming along just fine, I think," he said. "Going into this season, we knew we would have some down moments and struggles. Coming into the halfway mark of the NBA season, I feel like guys, myself included, are finding their roles. We just have to take it practice by practice and game by game and grow."

Quick shots

-- At 399 career wins, Cavs coach Byron Scott is one victory away from becoming the eighth active coach with 400 or more wins. Those ranked ahead of him are George Karl, Rick Adelman, Gregg Popovich, Doc Rivers, Rick Carlisle, Scott Skiles and Doug Collins.

-- Irving is on the cover of ESPN the Magazine's "20 players who define the future of sports," that hit the newsstand Friday.

-- Center Anderson Varejao's "Wild Thing Wig Night" will be Friday. He's missed the last four games with a bruised right knee. The Cavs will make a decision on Varejao on Friday at shootaround. He could be a game-time decision. If he plays on Friday, he'll move into a tie with Phil Hubbard for 10th place on the Cavs' all-time list in games played with 469.